Degeneration (14 page)

H
elic
opters flew in-
between the skyscrapers, repeating the same message over and over:

“
This is the United States Army. Please, remain calm. We are here to help you. You are being
led
in
to a FEMA staging area. You will receive medical services and additional processing once
you get
inside. Do not panic. Remain calm. After
you are processed
, you will be taken to a safe place. Repeating, this is the United…”  

The two white-suits led
Howell towards
the crowd
being herded into the RBC skyscraper. As they got closer
to the crowd
,
they
could see that most of the frightened civilians were
already
displaying symptoms; the disease was commu
nicating faster than predicted.

Howell’s eyes fluttered opened as he regained consciousness.

“Where… are I… mean, where are you taking me?” Howell slurred, weakly resisting as he was led towards the building, feet dragging.

The white-suits didn’t answer and kept leading him forward.

A man
amongst
the
stream of people being herded into the RBC skyscraper
stumbled back as he climbed up the entrance steps
. T
wo
other
men caught him
and supported
him as th
ey trudged towards the RBC
lobby doors
together
.
Wh
ite-suits watched over the line with their weapons ready.

“
Hey!
” Mike called out to one of the white-suits
guarding the RBC skyscraper entrance
.

The white-suit turned and looked at him
.

“
How close are you guys to capacity?”
Mike asked
.

“
Nobody inside
has
turned yet, so we’re hoping to squeeze in another three van loads,
” the white-suit said. “
Who
–
”

Suddenly, an older woman
ran out from the RBC tower lobby and shoved her way through the crowd herding inside
.
The supervising white-suits sighted-in on her and ordered her to go back in at gunpoint.

“Help us! There’s a
man up on the second floor attacking people and there is nobody inside to do anything!
You said there would be help! There are n
o soldiers, no police,
no FEMA, no nothing!
People are
hurt! Where–
”

The white-suits opened fire.

The woman and
the
othe
r civilians caught in the cross
fire let out blood curdling cries and collapsed to the ground. The
rest of the
crow
d panicked and started to jostle with each other, trying to flee.

“
Get inside the building! Get inside the building!”
the white-suits screamed at the crowd,
brandishing their weapons
.
They surrounded the crowd and herded the
people
through
the
lobby entrance at gunpoint
.

Within seconds, the crowd was inside. White-suits stood outside the l
obby with their weapons pointed towards the doors
, deterring anybody from running
back
out
side. T
he
panicked
screams coming from inside the lobby were deafening.

“
Bravo Detail to Omega Camp
, RBC is hot. Repeat, RBC is hot. Rear exits and roof hatches ha
ve been welded shut
. Permission to seal main entrance, over,”
one of the white-suits said into his radio.

“
Copy, Bravo
Detail
, seal her up and
start filling the next location
, over,”
a man’s voice responded.

A
dditional
white-suited
soldi
ers rushed over towards the RBC lobby doors with
thick sheets of plywood. They started covering the doors with
the plywood while a secondary team
bolted the wood into the steel frame
with
pneumatic
drills.

The p
eople inside the
lobby realized what was happening
and screamed for help, pleading, but
the soldiers
ke
pt their weapons pointed towards
the lobby doors.

The soldiers
held the last piece of plywood in place while
two other
soldiers
wielding pneumatic drills ran up to
secure it in place when–

“
Wait, befo
re you seal it, can we throw
this one
in
?
”  Kirk asked
the supervising white-suit.

The white-suit turned,
looked
down at Howell, and
groaned.

“
Fine, but
hurry up. We need to wrap this one up and start filling
the hotel
.
”

Kirk and Mike pulled Howell up the stairs towards the RBC tower lobby entrance when a man wearing
a grey business suit pushed
past
the un
bolted
piece of plywood
and
ran towards the street with his arms
waving frantically
.

“I am
unarmed! I am unarmed! Don’t s–
”

The white-suited soldiers
opened fire and
sent
the man’s bullet-riddled body
tumbling down the
steps past Kirk, Mike, and Howell.
Terrified screams
billowed out
from the lobby.

Kirk and Mike
hurled Howell in
to
the RBC Towe
r lobby.

As they turned and descended back down the steps, satisfied,
the
last sheet of plywood was quickly sealed behind them
.

“Let that bastard rot in there
with them,” Kirk said.

“He’ll be wishing we just shot him by the time those people rip him apart,” Mike added.

A white-suit walked past them and trudged up the steps towards the lobby holding a large orange sign.

He staple
d the sign onto the plywood.

The sign
read:

QUARANTINE

WARNING: HIGHL
Y COMMUNICABLE CONTAGION INSIDE

THIS AREA HAS BEEN DEEMED UNSAFE

ABSOLUTELY NO ENTRY PERMITTED

ABSOLUTELY NO EXIT PERMITTED

US
E OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED

10

             
H
owell landed hard in the RBC tower lobby and the duffle containing the bomb went sliding across the floor amongst the panicked sea of people.

             
Most of the crowd had gathered by the elevators, shoving each other, trampling the unfortunate ones who had fallen to the ground. People pressed the elevator call buttons in a fevered frenzy, coughing and shouting, terrified.

Others ran aimlessly in the lobby, searching frantically for another set of exit doors that didn’t exist. Some of them limped and staggered, barely able to keep conscious, covered with human bite-marks.

Two Raleigh police officers, stripped of their weapons and radios by the white-suits, attempted to maintain order in the center of the lobby, but their shouts were drowned out.

             
Howell spotted his duffle lying in the middle of the floor, lost amongst the crowd. He hastily stood and staggered towards–

             
A man wearing a sweat-soaked suit ran across the duffle and tripped over it, sending it sliding across the lobby.

             
Howell cursed and–

             
A woman wearing a kitchen apron ran into Howell and sent both of them tumbling to the ground.

             
“Watch it, you stupid bitch!” Howell shouted as he shoved the woman off of him.

             
The woman looked at him with a pallid expression and coughed in his face. She got up and limped away, hurrying towards the other side of the packed lobby, holding her bit left arm.

             
Howell reached up and wiped the woman’s spittle off of his face and cursed as he got back on his feet. He searched frantically for his duffle–

             
He spotted it as it got kicked from one side of the lobby to the other by the panicked crowd. Finally, it slid to a stop against the trampled corpse of a security guard.

             
Howell pushed his way through the crowd and snatched the duffle up, hugging it against his chest.

             
‘
DING’

             
A set of elevator doors slid open and sent the crowd into frenzy. They jostled and shoved against each other as they crammed into the open elevator. People were pressed against the sides of the elevator while others were crushed against the floor. The car was crammed to the point of suffocation. The maximum weight limit buzzer sounded repeatedly, but that didn’t stop people from clawing through each other as they attempted to get inside the crammed lift.

             
As soon as the elevator doors opened, the screaming crowd swarmed past Howell, pelting him with elbows, fingernails, and fists as they rushed towards the open lift. Howell collapsed into a fettle position and cradled the duffle against his chest, protecting it from the trampling horde.

             
‘
DING’

             
A second set of elevator doors slid open, and a bloodied man covered in human bite-marks ran out into the lobby, screaming in horror.

Behind him, two infected men emerged from the elevator. Both men were covered with blood and their shirts were caked with vomit. They gave feral snarls, projectile vomited on the people closest to the open elevator doors, and enveloped themselves into the frightened crowd, gnashing madly.

             
The lobby filled with a crescendo of blood-curdling screams as the crowd tried to ineffectively push against itself to get away from the infected men. A number of brawls broke out as people started to pummel each other, literally trying to kill whoever stood in their way of escape. Meanwhile, the infection spread like wildfire throughout the chaotic lobby.

             
Howell looked up and spotted a group of people slipping into a doorway in the far corner of the lobby.

             
It was a stairwell.

             
Howell snatched up his duffle and limped towards the open stairwell, elbowing frightened people out of his way. The stream of people headed towards the stairwell was increasing, so he sped up, lungs burning–

             
A woman stepped in front of him, holding her what remained of her left ear, bleeding profusely. She cried hysterics, pleading for help.

             
Howell shoved her to the ground and pushed his way through the doorway, entering the stairwell.

             
The stairwell was as chaotic as the lobby. People were sprinting up the stairs, skipping two or three steps each stride. Some of them lost their footing and went tumbling backwards down the stairs, taking others down with them like a human avalanche.

             
Howell kept his duffle held tightly and–

             
Two security guards and a construction worker slammed the stairwell door shut behind Howell. They held the door shut while one of the guards fished through his key ring.

             
Howell started sprinting up the stairs, gasping for breath, keeping the duffle squeezed tightly against his chest.

             
People bashed and scratched against the door from the other side, pleading. Behind their pleas, the feral cries of the infected grew louder.

             
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” one of the guards repeated to the pleading voices as he searched for the stairwell door key. He found it, slid it into the lock, locked the door shut, and snapped the key off inside the tumbler.